The Hypnos Luxurious Earth 05 Mattress is the mattress I'd pick if someone else were paying. It's one of the best-made beds in the Bensons range, owners adore it, and it costs far more than most people need to spend. Buy it if money really isn't the question and you'll turn a very heavy mattress with the seasons. Everyone else gets most of the way there with a mid-range Hypnos for a fraction of the price.
Everything I'd ask for, at the top of the price list
Read the layer list and it's like a wish list. Hypnos's ReActivePro pocket springs with ten turns of wire each, three rows of firmer springs and a metal frame at the edges. Above them, natural Talalay latex, three whole fleeces of organic British wool, organic lambswool and silk, and Allo fibres made from nettle, of all things. Four rows of hand side-stitching round the border, wool tufting, a cotton damask cover. It comes in Medium and Firmer, and only Bensons sells it.
Every one of those is something I rate. Talalay latex is the lighter, airier kind; it springs back and doesn't hold heat. Wool sleeps cool and dry. The edge springs mean you can sit on the side to put your slippers on without the border folding. My quarrel isn't with any ingredient. It's with how much each extra step costs: the tenth turn of wire and the silk on top are the expensive end of things that were already good.
It wants turning, and it's heavy
Hypnos says to rotate and turn it with the seasons, so you use both sides. With this much wool and latex inside, that's a proper lift. One owner said flipping it is a two-person job and very difficult if you live alone, and that's the most useful line in the reviews. If you can't turn it, avoid it: a turnable mattress that never gets turned is just an expensive one-sided mattress.
What the owners say
The happy owners talk about comfort and build, and a few talk about it the way people talk about a holiday. The unhappy ones are few and specific. One found the Firmer "very firm" a fortnight in and wasn't sure they'd recommend it yet, though others who chose Firmer call it firm but comfortable. Another received a mattress that was out of shape, marked and smaller than their king frame, which is a delivery fault, not a design one, so look it over before the team leaves. Unless you're heavy and sleep on your back, I'd choose Medium.
What to buy instead
Stay at Bensons and step down the same range. The Luxurious Earth 02 keeps the three fleeces of organic British wool, the Allo fibres, the edge springs and the seasonal turn, comes in the same Medium and Firmer, and costs far less; what you give up is the latex and the silk. The Luxurious Earth 01 is cheaper again with the same wool, but only in Firm and Extra Firm. If it's the latex you can't do without, the Hypnos Witney Latex Supreme at Mattress Online puts Talalay latex over Hypnos pocket springs for far less, though it's one-sided.
